A review by bleurghonaut
Selected Letters by Margaret Smith, Charlotte Brontë, Janet Gezari

4.0

A wonderful collection of letters, and the spirit of Charlotte Brontë absolutely shines through. Her writings about the deaths of her siblings (and, in particular, the passing of her sisters Emily and Anne) are heart-rending. The work loses a star for me as I felt the editing could have been better; while I appreciate that the letters are allowed to 'speak for themselves', personally I would have preferred some context in between groups of letters. The editor provides context in the introduction, some biographical notes in the end, and makes prodigious use of footnotes at the end of each letter (I read this book on my Kobo e-reader, and the footnotes were not particularly easy to navigate). While there is some excellent analysis of Charlotte's unrequited infatuation with Constantin Héger, little is made, for example, of her brutal reaction to the marriage of George Smith, and her subsequent betrothal to Arthur Nicholls. The letter to Ellen Nussey on 11 April 1854 informing her of the engagement seems to me pitifully sad and full of doubt, and after her marriage she seems a shadow of her former self until she fades away entirely. I preferred the layout in Juliet Barker's [b:The Brontës: A Life in Letters|31830516|The Brontës A Life in Letters|Juliet Barker|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1472931019l/31830516._SY75_.jpg|13447293] but nonetheless a splendid collection.